The present invention relates to an improvement in the dispensing of eye drops frown a conventional eye dropper bottle. More particularly, tile invention discloses a convenient, easy-to-use device for assisting a patient administer eye drops while standing up or lying down and with or without ambient illumination.
The conventional eye dropper bottle is made of squeezable translucent or transparent plastic material and dispenses drops into tile patient's eye from an orifice located within a dispensing tip of the bottle. These bottles come in many different shapes and sizes. Further, the cap of the bottle is often of a defined color to readily indicate to the user which medication is contained within the bottle. The tip, however, is not itself colored because of concern for leaching.
When dispensing a drop from a bottle, it is imperative that the orifice be accurately positioned above the eye. The majority of tile medications being dispensed are extremely expensive and therefore, any spillage frown inaccurately dispensing a drop into the eye can be very costly to the patient. In addition, accurate insertion of a drop allows the patient to be certain about the placement and will prevent the patient from overdosing on the medication. While it is desirable to hold the tip in close proximity to the eye, contact with the eyelid, or other surfaces on the face or eye, may cause contamination of the tip of the bottle or injury to the patient.
Approximately 98% of all cataract surgery is performed on an out-patient basis. Thus, patients are often required to dispense eye drops at home, frequently without the aid of trained professionals, relatives or friends. However, for these patients, their sight and ability to gauge distances is typically adversely affected by the surgery, thus severely hampering their ability to use the conventional eye dropper bottle. An effective, easy to use dispenser aid with an increased ability to accentuate a drop being dispensed at the tip of the bottle would meet this need with reduced learning time for first time users, reduced complications and reduced waste.
Many of the devices for assisting in dispensing such drops, currently in use, do not provide a large enough target area, or do not illuminate and contrast the drop dispensing tip sufficiently to meet the needs of many of the patients. Nor do they minimize the risk of waste and contamination outlined above.
Canadian Patent No. 1,222,991 of Dougherty, issued Jun. 16, 1987 relates to a device for illuminating the dispensing tip of the conventional eye dropper bottle. It teaches a separate device mountable to the bottle which directs a beam of light, from a position beside the bottle, onto the dispensing tip of a tube attached to the tip of the bottle. However, the device requires that the dispensing tip be positioned at a significant distance from the actual bottle and from the patient's finger tips thus complicating its use. In addition, the target area provided by the illumination of Dougherty is not increased visually to any significant extent. The small illuminated tip and drop would make the device difficult to use for patients with macular degeneration and loss of central visual field.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,866 of Moore, issued Nov. 5, 1985 teaches a means of improving the visibility of the tip portion of a dispensing bottle by attaching a multi-colored tip on to the flange of the bottle to replace the existing tip. This requires handling by the patient and has the obvious problem of risking contamination of the medicine or the tip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,456 of Edwards, issued Dec. 16, 1986 similarly teaches a device to be placed on the tip of the bottle necessitating the handling of the tip by the patient, in order to insert the device onto the tip of the bottle. The device is intended to improve the target area of the dispenser but makes no mention of illuminating the tip.